Weston-Wayland crew shines at Club Nationals

Thursday

Thirteen Wayland-Weston Crew athletes travelled to the USRowing Club National Championships on the Cooper River in Camden, New Jersey, on July 10 to 15, and came home with three medals.

Max Marchiony won gold in the Men’s U19 single (1x) and stroked the Men’s Intermediate Lightweight Quad (4x) to a bronze medal finish with Drew Aggouras in three seat, Drew Macklin in two seat, and Michael Dremov in bow.

Zoe Koechling stroked the Women’s U19 quad (4x) to bronze with Clara Hurney in three seat, Kyra Patterson in two seat and Kate Maietta in bow.

While three boats won medals, 12 boats qualified to the semifinals, including three in the Men’s Intermediate Lightweight single and two in the Men’s U19 single.

The 13 athletes competed in singles, doubles, and quads, in which athletes each have a pair of sculls, and also raced a pair, two rowers each with one sweep oar.

According to head coach Mike Baker, who has taken W-W Crew athletes to Club Nationals for three years, “The first two years were learning experiences and now our athletes are executing superbly. Kids surprise and impress me every day with their ability to adapt and change to take on every situation.”

“Exactly a year ago at Club Nationals was my first time racing in a single,” Max Marchiony said. “Last year I finished fifth in the U19 single and set my sights on earning a medal in 2018 with another year of experience. I trained as much as I possibly could.”

He attributed much of his success to the coaching he received from Mike Baker, Mark Grinberg and Alex Selvig. “This is my third summer with Mike and the Wayland-Weston Club Nationals program, and every year it gets better. Mike brings the group together with his quick-witted banter and incredible coaching, and the group really clicked this year.”

Baker has coached Marchiony for three summer seasons.

“In our first year at Club Nationals, not one boat qualified for the semifinals,” according to Baker. “I imagine that Max said to himself that day, ‘That's not ever going to happen again.’ The second year, everybody qualified to semis and Max made the U19 final. We knew we'd find some more speed in him, and this year was the climax of three years of training really hard. He’s easy to coach because he's got a tremendous internal drive, and it’s rewarding to have watched him go through all the stages of progression.”

According to Marchiony, “Alex Selvig always pushed me to be faster as an athlete and really enabled me to pursue my single sculling. Last fall, after my fifth place finish, he gave me more opportunities to race the single, leading to confidence-boosting victories at the Textile River Regatta, NH Championships, and MPSRA Championships.”

Marchiony continued crediting his coaches when speaking about Mark Grinberg, the head coach of West Cambridge Rowing, saying, "I only started training with Mark last summer, but his impact on my rowing has been incredible. Mark always challenges me to be better in every way, whether it’s steering, bladework, timing, balance or leaving everything on the water. He’s empowered me to take responsibility for my training, issuing challenges and letting me rise to meet them.”

Competing in the Men’s Intermediate Lightweight quad marked rising Wayland senior captain Drew Macklin’s return to Club Nationals for the third time and his first medal.

"Going to Club Nats for the third time was really cool because I could see how I had progressed as a rower,” he said. “This is one of the few regattas where small boats are emphasized. This means that it is one of the only regattas where your results directly reflect your own strength and skill as a rower.

“Winning the bronze medal was tremendous for our boat. Additionally, I saw some of the same athletes from other crews that I had met the previous year. At this regatta more than any other, sportsmanship is valued most, and there is little to no inter-club animosity."

Women earn bronze

Zoe Koechling, stroke of the Women’s U19 quad scull, earned bronze while beating finalists from the U.S. Rowing High Performance Team and Vesper, the overall team champion.

“All four of us,” Koechling said, “were very proud to bring home the first-ever national level women’s sculling medal for Wayland-Weston.”

“This was Zoe's first trip to Club Nationals,” Baker said, “but she has been to Youth Nationals twice and rowed in the 8+ this year. She is one of our best technical rowers. With great finesse and length, she has found some additional speed just in the last two months. Whatever boat she’s in, there's always a level of competitiveness and also a fun cheeriness that is pervasive in her life. It shows in her smile and she brings it into the boat, lifting it.”

Koechling described the progression through the regatta.

“Going into the time trial, we had never rowed in the lineup that we were racing, so we had no expectations for the race. The time trial went a lot better than any of the four of us had expected and we qualified second. We didn’t race well in the semi – we rowed at too low of a stroke rate and didn’t make enough moves on the boats around us, but we qualified for the final.”

Baker reviewed the race with the team and they made adjustments. Koechling maintained her optimistic perspective, saying, “We were confident that by rowing the quad the correct way – upright and at a high stroke rate – we would have a good chance at a medal. At the start of the final, we took 10 more high strokes than we usually would because we had been behind off the start in our semifinal. These strokes brought us into third place, which we held for the duration of the race. Kate, who was in bow, was very aggressive in calling power tens to stop any other boats from moving up on us and to refocus on our power. We started our sprint early, which helped us stay ahead of the other three boats in the final.”

Winning two bronze medals in the quads was a highlight for Baker.

“I think both boats medaled because this was the right group at the right time. We had experienced rowers with some mature leadership and impressive strength. In each boat, they figured out some technical things between the semifinal and the final. Because we're primarily a sweep program, the technique is really different. What we noticed in the semi was that they were rowing like they were in a pair or four. Together, they focused on setting up more vertical at the catch to get the blade in faster so they could be quicker at the drive. Both boats went out and practiced and instantly got 10 seconds faster. They kept it all together. They never doubted themselves. They earned their bronze medals.”

For Macklin, this year was the best of his three Club Nationals experiences, saying, ”There were few enough kids that Mike Baker was able to give ample time and personal advice to every rower to ensure that they improved dramatically and performed to their highest potential. Also, the athletes that went on the trip all got along fabulously, dropping everything to cheer on our teammates or help them on the docks.

“I think that Mike did a great job of ensuring that everybody's spirits were high, but still pushed us to do our best. The result was fantastic – eight medalists, including one gold medalist. I’m going back next year.”